Rotary bed

ABSTRACT

The present invention has the object of providing a configuration of bed so that the fixed bed frame in rotary-type bed does not disturb care given to a physically handicapped person lying on the bed. A rotary bed frame (6) rotatable around a vertical axis is provided on the fixed bed frame (1) placed on the floor, with a front screen (3) attached to the front side, and a movable mat support member (23) which receives a mat (32) foldably provided, which is divided into a back receiving part, a waist receiving part and a leg receiving part, is provided on this rotary bed frame (6). The rotary bed frame (6) is rotated by an appropriate drive, and at the same time, the back receiving portion (23b) is caused to stand up prior to rotation. Furthermore, the front side portion of the bed frame (1) at least has a transverse width (L) permitting stepping over.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a rotary-type bed used mainly byphysically-handicapped or aged people.

PRIOR ART STATEMENT

The present inventor has conventionally manufactured and commerciallysold a rotary-type bed which comprises a rotary bed frame, rotatablearound a vertical axis, disposed in the middle between the front andrear portions of a fixed bed frame provided with front and rear screens;a movable mat support receiving a mat comprising at least a backreceiving part, a waist receiving part and a leg receiving partindependently foldable, attached to this rotary bed frame; and a drivingmechanism to enable the user to get down from a side of the bed framewithout being disturbed by the screen by rotating the rotary bed frameby about 90°, and to change his or her posture from lying down tositting down by turning up the back receiving part and at the same timeby lowering down the leg receiving part. The conventional rotary-typebed has, however, a construction in which the width of the bed frameplaced stationarily on the floor surface is as wide as the mat width,and even when the user is caused to take a posture of sitting, as on aneasy chair by turning up the back receiving part prior to rotating therotary bed frame, an attendant cannot enter into the space between thescreen and the upright back receiving part unless they stand up on thebed frame.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The present invention solves the difficulty in an attendant providingnursing care to a physically-handicapped or aged person who is in asitting posture by entering the space between the front screen and theupright back receiving part, while remaining in a normal standingposture. The rotary-type bed of the present invention comprises a rotarybed frame 6, rotatable around a vertical axis, provided in the middlebetween the front and rear portions of a fixed bed frame 1 provided withat least a front screen 3 on the front end side and placed on the floorsurface; a movable mat support member 23 receiving a mat 32 comprisingat least a back receiving portion 23b, a waist receiving portion 23c anda leg receiving portion 23d independently foldable, attached to thisrotary bed frame 6; a leg, receiving mat support 41, a receiving mat 42for receiving legs, provided on the rear end side of the fixed bed frame1; a reversely rotatable motor 10 and a screw cylinder 13 engaging witha screw shaft 12 rotated at a reduced speed by the motor 10 beingattached to a side of said rotary bed frame; and a rotation mechanism Afor mechanically rotating the rotary bed frame 6 by about 90° relativeto the movement of the screw cylinder and an interlocking mechanism Bfor causing folding of the back receiving portion 23b, the waistreceiving part 23c and the leg receiving portion 23d, the bothmechanisms being provided between the screw cylinder 13 and the fixedbed frame 1. This achieves an interlocking structure in which, prior tostarting rotation of the rotary bed frame 6, simultaneously with theraising of the back receiving portion 23b, the leg receiving portion 23dis raised so as not to hit the mat 42 for receiving legs. The front sideportion of the bed frame at least has a narrow width sufficient topermit stepping over.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a partially simplified side view. FIG. 2 is a simplified planview. FIG. 3 is a partial plan view. FIG. 4 is a partial side view. FIG.5 is a partial front view. FIG. 6 is a partial plan view. FIG. 7 is apartial side view. FIG. 8 is a plan view of FIG. 7. FIG. 9 is apartially cutaway side view. FIG. 10 is a plan view of FIG. 9. FIG. 11is a partial plan view illustrating the function of a rotating mechanismA. FIG. 12 is a partial plan view illustrating the function of therotating mechanism A. FIG. 13 is a plan view illustrating the functionof the rotating mechanism A. FIG. 14 is a partial plan view illustratingthe function of the rotating mechanism A. FIG. 15 is a partial plan viewillustrating the function of the rotating mechanism A. FIG. 16 is apartial descriptive view illustrating the operating mechanism of themovable mat support member 23. FIG. 17 is a partial descriptive viewillustrating the operating mechanism of the movable mat support member23. FIG. 18 is a partial descriptive view illustrating the operatingmechanism of the movable mat support member 23. FIG. 19 is a partialdescriptive view illustrating the operating mechanism of the movable matsupport member 23. FIG. 20 is a partial descriptive view illustratingthe operating mechanism of the movable mat support member 23. FIG. 21 isa partial descriptive view illustrating the operating mechanism of themovable mat support member 23. FIG. 22 is a side view for illustratingthe strategic points in the overall movement of the rotary bed. FIG. 23is a side view for illustrating the strategic points in the overallmovement of the rotary bed. FIG. 24 is a side view for illustrating thestrategic points in the overall movement of the rotary bed. FIG. 25 is aplan view for illustrating the strategic points in the overall movementof the rotary bed. FIG. 26 is a plan view for illustrating the strategicpoints in the overall movement of the rotary bed. FIG. 27 is a side viewfor illustrating the strategic points in the overall movement of therotary bed. FIG. 28 is a perspective view illustrating the dividingportion of the bed frame. FIG. 29 is a partial side view illustratingthe attaching/detaching operations of the bed frame. FIG. 30 is apartial side view illustrating the attaching/detaching operations of thebed frame. FIG. 31 is a partial side view illustrating theattaching/detaching operations of the bed frame. FIG. 32 is a partialside view illustrating the attaching/detaching operations of the bedframe. FIG. 33 is a partial side view illustrating fitting of thesiderail. FIG. 34 is a plan view illustrating the stopper portion of thesiderail.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

The present invention will now be described in detail with reference tothe drawings representing embodiments. In the drawings, 1 is a bedframe, the middle portion between the front and rear of which is loweredas viewed from a side. It has an overall width L and a height whichpermit easy stepping over and a narrow transverse width of 20 to 30 cm.Side frames 1e and 1f extend to the right and the left at the front andrear ends from the bed frame, and casters 2 are attached through a legshift 2a to the right and left ends thereof. This bed frame 1 isdivisible into a front frame 1a, a middle frame 1b and a rear frame 1c.The attaching/detaching mechanism will be described later in thisspecification. In the drawings, 3 is a front screen, and 4 is a rearscreen. The front and rear screens 3 and 4 are secured to the sideframes at the front and rear ends of the bed frame.

A fixed frame for rotation 5 is attached, to the middle frame 1b. Thisfixed frame 5 for rotation is composed of a lower sub-frame 5a and anupper sub-frame 5b so as to form the gap (a) above and below the outercircumference thereof.

The rotary bed frame 6 is secured to a plate 6a rotating in engagementwith the gap (a) portion of the fixed frame 5 for rotation; and 7a and7b are steel balls forming a bearing.

An operating mechanism support frame 8 is integrally supported bysupport legs 9, 9 . . . on the rotary bed frame 6 and is of therectangular shape shown in the plan view.

The reversible motor 10 incorporates an integral reducer 11. This motor10 with reducer is supported by the operating mechanism support frame 8.A screw shaft 12 rotated by the motor 10 is supported on bearings by thesame operating mechanism support frame 8. Incidentally, 12a is africtional clutch for safety which stops the shaft 12 by slipping whenthe load exceeds a certain level.

The reference numeral 13 indicates a screw cylinder which engages withthe above-mentioned screw shaft 12. Shafts 14 and 14 projecting sidewaysare provided before and after the screw cylinder 13, and are attachedwith rollers 16, 16 . . . .

The screw cylinder 13 is thus prevented from rotating by followingrotation of the screw shaft 12 by causing the rollers 16, 16 . . . toroll on the support frames 8a and 8b on the right and left sides.

A indicates a rotation mechanism. Projection-shaped fixed cams 15 and 15having cam grooves (b) and (c) on the right and left sides are providedon the upper surface of the upper frame 5b of the above-mentioned fixedframe for rotation 5.

Holes 19 permitting insertion and removal of a pin 18 are provided in across plate 17 projecting to the right and left of the screw cylinder13. In the state in which the pin 18 is inserted into any one of theseholes, the motor 10 is caused to rotate to move the screw cylinder 13 tothe motor 10 side under the effect of rotation of the screw shaft 12, sothat the pin 18 engages in cam groove (b) or (c), and the inclinationangle of this cam groove in the plan view twists the screw cylinder 13on one side, thus causing rotation of the rotary bed frame 6 by about90°. Rotation of the motor 10 is such that movement of the cross plate17 pushes a switch SW1 so as to stop the rotary movable frame 6 afterrotation by 90°. This switch SW1 for automatic stoppage may be providedat an appropriate position between the screw cylinder 13 side and theoperating mechanism support frame 8 side, and it is not necessary tolimit this position to that described in the above embodiment. In thesame way reverse rotation of the motor 10 causes the rotary bed frame 6to rotate by 90° in the reverse direction under just a reverse effectand to resume the original state.

The reference numerals 20, 21 and 22 indicate moving cams which areattached to the screw cylinder itself or to members secured to the screwcylinder as to move integrally with the screw cylinder 13, and conductfolding action of the back receiving part, the waist receiving part orthe leg receiving part described later.

The reference numeral member 23 indicates a movable-side mat supportwhich comprises a head receiving portion 23a, a back receiving portion23b, a waist receiving portion 23c, and a leg receiving portion 23d. Thehead receiving part 23a and the back receiving portion 23b are connectedby a folding hinge piece 24 and are provided in an integral form. Thewaist receiving portion 23c and the leg receiving portion 23d aresimilarly connected by a folding piece 24 and are provided in anintegral form. The back receiving portion 23b and the waist receivingportion 23c are attached rotatably around the base ends thereof througha pin receiver 26 and a pin 27 to inverse-U shaped frames 25 and 26secured at bases thereof to the rotary bed frame 6. The referencenumerals 28, 28 . . . are cylinders for attaching siderails, which aresecured to the four corners of the rotary bed frame 6.

The reference numeral 29 indicates a working ring of the head receivingportion 23a, which is an interlocking member causing a rod 31 tointervene between an arm integral with the head receiving portion 23aand the pin receiver 31 of the above-mentioned inverse-U shaped frame 25to keep the head receiving portion 23a substantially horizontal when theback receiving part 23b is raised.

A mat 32 is placed on the above-mentioned movable side mat support 23:the mat is divided into sections by folding points to make it easy tofold. In the case of a thin mat, however, it is not necessary to takemeasures to facilitate folding such as providing notches in the mat.

The working arm 33 formed integrally with the back receiving portion23b, is provided with a cam roller 33a which comes into contact with themoving cam 20 to direct folding action of the back receiving part 23b;34 is a working bracket formed integrally with the waist receivingportion 23c, provided with a cam roller 34a which comes into contactwith the moving cam 21 to direct folding action of the waist receivingportion 23c.

The working arm 35 for causing the folding action of the leg receivingportion 23d attached integrally to a bracket 37 connected by rotatingshaft through a pin 36 to the working bracket 34 integral with theabove-mentioned waist receiving portion 23c. A lever 38 is providedintegrally with this bracket 37, so that the leg receiving portion 23dmay be moved under the action of the working arm 35 by connecting thislever 38 and a lever 39 secured to the leg receiving portion 23d sidewith a rod 40. A cam roller 35a is attached to this working arm 35 tocause the cam roller 35a to come into contact with the moving cam 22.

A leg receiving mat support 41 is provided on the rear end side of thefixed bed frame 1, and a leg receiving mat 42 is placed in the upperportion thereof; and 43 indicates a regulation frame to preventdisplacement of the mat.

The siderail 44 is composed of a cylinder 28 for attaching the siderail,a fixed siderail member 44a having a detachable pin from 28, and amovable siderail member 44b rotating outward and upward relative to thefixed siderail member 44a and stopping inside.

SW2 is a switch effecting automatic stoppage upon reverse rotation ofthe motor 10, attached to the support 8a, which causes stoppage when thecross plate 17 becomes far from the motor 10 and the mat support 23becomes almost horizontal.

The switch operating box 45 is connected in linkage with motor 10 by anadjustable cord 46. A manual switch 3 enabling the user to freely selectany of on, off, and positive and reverse rotation of the motor isprovided on this box.

The guard 60 which safely encloses the space around the feet of theattendant M, is secured to the rotary bed frame 6, and has aconstruction in which the transverse width is narrower at the front endand becomes larger toward the rear end as viewed from the plan view.

In the above-mentioned construction of the embodiment, the relationshipbetween rotation of the rotary bed frame 6 and folding action of themovable side mat support member 23 is ensured by the rotation mechanismA, and a folding action mechanism B comprising moving cams 20, 21 and22, and cam rollers 33a, 34a and 35a coming into contact with thesecams. The cams and the cam follower members (the pin 18, and the camrollers 33a, 34a and 35a) which are related members conducting theseactions are in the following positional relationship.

More specifically, when, under the effect of reverse rotation of themotor 10, the screw cylinder 13 moves away from the motor 10 and theswitch SW2 is pushed by the cross plate 17 to become off, thus achievingstoppage, the individual cams and cam follower members are located attheir respective basic positions in the state as shown in FIGS. 1 and16. Then, accordingly as the motor 10 is rotated in the positivedirection to bring the screw cylinder 13 nearer to the motor 10, theback receiving portion 23b is folded upward as shown in FIG. 17, and atthe same time, the waist receiving portion 23c is raised up little bylittle to reach a state in which the leg receiving portion 23d does notfully follow the movement of the waist receiving 23c, but is slightlysuspended. Subsequently, the leg receiving portion 23d is raised finallyin the state shown in FIG. 18 into the state shown in FIG. 19. When themovement is discontinued in the state shown in FIG. 18, however, a gap Mas shown in FIG. 22 is formed between the screen 3 and the front end ofthe mat 32 placed on the movable mat support member 23, into which anattendant K can enter. In this case, the transverse width L of the bedframe 1 is sufficiently narrow to enable the attendant to stand up onthe floor surface by stepping over the frame 1, thus permitting easycare of a lying physically-handicapped or aged person from the back sideof the patient. Then, at the stage in which the leg receiving portion23d is raised up, the pin 18 begins being inserted into the cam groove(b) or (c) as shown in FIG. 11, to start rotary movement 6.

At this point, even if the attendant K stands up at the gap M, theattendant K can easily escape to outside the bed frame 1 by steppingover the bed 26, as shown in FIG. 26, along with rotation of the bed 32,thus ensuring a high degree of safety. Then, the leg receiving portion23d is kept in the uppermost state as shown in FIG. 19 during rotation.From the point when the bed has rotated by about 45°, the waistreceiving portion 23c and the leg receiving portion 23d slowly beginresting the original state downward. Even after the waist receivingportion 23c reaches substantially the horizontal state, the legreceiving portion 23d hangs down almost vertically in a folded state asshown in FIG. 21. At this point, the rotary movable frame 6 alsodiscontinues rotation under the effect of stoppage of the motor causedby the switch SW1.

When the motor 10 is rotated in the positive direction, just the reverseactions cause reverse rotation of the rotary bed frame 6, and therelative positions of the individual members are set so that the matsupports return to the original horizontal state. It is important to setthe height of the holding action so that the raised position of the legreceiving part 23d should be largely apart upward from the upper surfaceof the fixed mat 42, and that the rotating rotary bed frame 6 does notcause the user's legs to be rubbed by the mat 42 or the movable mat 32.In the embodiment shown above, the height of folding action is set toaccommodate this prerequisite.

The operations will now be sequentially described in more detail. Whenthe motor 10 is rotated in the positive direction to cause the screwcylinder 13 to slowly move toward the motor 10, it presses the camroller 33a towards the motor 10 on the back of the moving cam 20 andcauses the back receiving portion 23b to gradually raised as shown inFIG. 17 through the working arm 33. Following this action, the camroller 34a runs on the slope of the moving cam 21, thus causing thewaist receiving portion 23c to tilt slightly. When the state shown inFIG. 18 is reached, the cam roller 35a in turn runs on the moving cam22, thus raising the leg receiving portion 23d as shown in FIG. 19.

More particularly, the lying person takes a posture as shown in FIG. 23.The position of the screw cylinder 13 at this point is in or near thestate shown in FIG. 12. While taking the posture shown in FIG. 24, thescrew cylinder 13 displaces through the state shown in FIG. 13 to thatshown in FIG. 14. In other words, when the cam pin 18 is previously setin the hole 19 to the left in FIG. 10, this pin 18 engages with the camgroove (b) and causes the operating mechanism support frame 8 (rotarybed frame 6), into which the motor 10 itself is incorporated, to rotateas shown in FIGS. 14 and 15. Along with these actions, the leg receivingportion 23d performs actions as shown in FIG. 21 through those shown inFIGS. 19 and 20. This means that the lying patient changes his or herposture from the state shown in FIG. 24 described above through therotating posture shown in FIG. 25 finally into that shown in FIG. 27.More specifically, when the attendant K provides care, standing upbetween the front screen 3 and the front end of the bed 32 in the stateshown in FIG. 24, and rotation unexpectedly occurs to the state shown inFIG. 25, the attendant K can go out to the side of the fixed bed frame 1as shown in FIG. 26. This escape to outside frame 1 is very smooth sincethe attendant is spontaneously pushed off by the guard 60 of which thefoot portion diverges toward the rear end. In this posture, the screwcylinder 13 is in its position closest to the motor 10, and the switch 1is pushed by the cross plate 17 to turn off, thus causing automaticstoppage of the motor 10. By only continuing positive rotation of themotor 10 by means of the switch SW3 of the switch operating box 45,therefore, the lying patient is automatically caused to take a sittingposture in which the back is raised and the legs are stretched. In thisposture, the leg receiving part 23d is raised to cause even the feet ofthe patient to be raised apart from the fixed mat. When the rotary frame6 is rotated in this state to a position at which the feet of thepatient are off the fixed mat surface as viewed in the plan, the legreceiving part 23d in turn hangs down in the state shown in FIG. 27. Thepatient would therefore be able to stand up on the floor while holdinghis or her own weight to some extent by hand by turning inward themovable siderail member 44b of the siderail 44. By the operations ofreversing rotation of the motor 10 from the state shown in FIG. 15 andbringing the screw cylinder 13 more distant from the motor 10, it ispossible in contrast to easily cause the standing patient to take theoriginal lying posture typically represented by that shown in FIG. 1.The actions for this operation are just reverse to those causing thepatient to stand up as described above. A detailed description istherefore omitted here.

The bed frame 1 is detachable, being divisible into the front frame 1a,the middle frame 1b and the rear frame 1c as described above. Theattaching/detaching mechanism will be described below. As shown in theperspective view of the detached state in FIG. 28, a bottom anchoringpart based on both frames is formed, which permits mutualengagement-anchoring of the bottom from above by holding the frame endsof the divisions of frame, and an anchoring claw 53 rotatable around apin 52 is provided on a side of the frame for the upper portion. This isheld by a spring 54 so as to be located above the other frame, toprevent the unexpected rising of the anchored frame. On the frameanchored from above, an ear 55 formed so as not to disturb frameengagement is provided, which pushes up the anchoring claw 53 when theboth frames are brought into engagement from the front and the rear. Theanchoring claw 53 engages with this ear 55. When assembling, therefore,it suffices to slightly raise one of the both frames, bring the bothframes into contact, connect the frame higher in position, and at thesame time, drop the same to cause anchoring with the bottom anchoringpart 51. This connecting and assembling step is disclosed in FIGS. 29 to32.

The holding means of the siderail used in the embodiment is illustratedin FIGS. 33 and 34. A locking claw 57 is provided on the frame side,which is rotatable so as to press a collar 56 on the siderail side.

COMMERCIALLY USEFUL EFFECTS

In the rotary-type bed of the present invention, as described above indetail, a narrow transverse width is used for the fixed bed frame 1placed on the floor so as to enable the attendant K to easily step over.The rotary bed 6 is provided in the middle portion between the front andthe rear of this bed frame 1. When a physically handicapped person iscaused to take the sitting posture by raising the back receiving part ofthe rotary bed 6, the attendant K entering the gap between the frontscreen 3 and the upright back receiving part can easily provide care tothe patient leaning against the back receiving part and can escape fromthe bed frame 1 to outside by easily stepping over the bed frame 1without suffering from injury, thus providing useful for application inhospitals.

What is claimed is:
 1. A rotary-type bed comprising a fixed bed framehaving front and rear portions, a rotary bed frame disposed intermediatesaid front and rear portions of said fixed bed frame, means for rotatingsaid rotary bed frame around a vertical axis, a front screen disposed onthe front end and supported by a floor surface; a movable mat supportmember receiving a mat and being attached to said rotary bed frame, saidmat support member including at least a back receiving portion, a waistreceiving portion and a leg receiving portion, each of said portionsbeing independently foldable; a leg receiving mat support receiving amat for receiving legs provided on the rear end of the fixed bed frame;a reversely rotatable motor and a screw cylinder attached to a side ofsaid rotary bed frame; a screw shaft rotatable at a reduced speed by themotor engaging said screw cylinder; a rotation mechanism for rotatingthe rotary bed frame by about 90° relative to movement of the screwcylinder and an interlocking mechanism operative to effect sequentialfolding of the back receiving portion, the waist receiving portion andthe leg receiving portion, said rotation mechanism and said interlockingmechanisms being both disposed between the screw cylinder and the fixedbed frame, and said interlocking mechanism including means operativeprior to starting rotation of the rotary bed frame and simultaneouslywith raising of the back receiving portion, to raise the leg receivingportion sufficiently to avoid the mat for receiving legs, and at leastthe front portion of the bed frame having a narrow width sufficient topermit stepping over.